ZPC chairman Richard Maasdorp said load shedding would “remain a way of life until we expand generation at Hwange and Kariba”.
Current total generation capacity at the two stations and smaller thermal plants in Harare, Munyati and Bulawayo is around 1 400 megawatts against national demand of 2 200MW.
Maasdorp however said new investment and private sector funding into generation capacity would not be forthcoming while our tariff remains sub-economic and in the absence of a long-term tariff formula.
The current tariff of 7.53 USc per kilowatt, was set in February 2009 and 28 months later the utility was still awaiting approval of a “cost-reflective tariff”.
“In the absence of an increase to the tariff, ZPC has now had to slow down its efforts to stabilise and optimise power from its existing power stations. In addition efforts to raise capital for adding generation capacity (a four-to-five-year process from when funding is secured) will be thwarted,” the ZPC chairman warned.
He revealed that the utility has in the meantime been forced to cut back on maintenance and ongoing refurbishment in order to compensate for the sub-economic tariff.
“This is clearly not sustainable and if the situation is not addressed urgently, the lights you have from time to time today will go out tomorrow,” he said.
Zimbabwe has experienced rolling power cuts during the past decade due to inadequate generation capacity by ZESA.
This has seen ZESA implementing a load management programme under which the utility regularly switches off some customers during the day in order to stretch the available supplies.
The daily power cuts have affected domestic consumers as well as the business community, with some factories forced to retrench workers due to low production.
ZESA said it was making alternative arrangements with other southern African utilities to augment supplies during the shortages necessitated by the ongoing maintenance work on the Kariba plant.
Zimbabwe imports about 35 percent of its power needs from the national utilities of Mozambique, Democratic Republic of Congo, South Africa and Zambia.
Post published in: News